In the development of mobile communication terminals such as cellular phones or mobile devices, it is tested whether a mobile communication terminal, which is currently being developed, can normally communicate with a base station in accordance with communication standards. To test the mobile communication terminal, a testing application for simulating the base station is utilized. This testing apparatus stores a prepared test scenario, which describes the operation sequence of the testing apparatus and communication sequence between the testing apparatus and the mobile communication terminal.
In the communication test for the mobile communication terminal, the testing apparatus is operated as a pseudo base station in accordance with the test scenario to communicate with the mobile communication terminal as a test target, thereby testing whether normal communication is performed.
In the mobile communication standards, system information is defined as important information to be sent from a base station to a mobile communication terminal. For instance, the system information includes base-station position information, peripheral cell information, and information for performing transmission control. The system information is cyclically broadcasted to mobile communication terminals per a predetermined number of frames, e.g., 128 frames.
In, for example, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), the system information is formed of a single Master Information Block (MIB) and a plurality of System Information Blocks (SIBs).
The MIB includes information for enabling each mobile communication terminal to detect the structure of the SIBs cyclically broadcasted in units of 128 frames, i.e., a transmission schedule indicating which SIB is transmitted in which frame, and also includes information for enabling each mobile communication terminal to detect a change in the system information.
The SIBs comprise different types of blocks labeled with, for example, SIB1, SIB2 and SIB3. SIB1 is used to inform each mobile communication terminal of common information shared between groups of cells. The other SIBs are used to inform each terminal of common information shared among cells.
The system information can include a plurality of SBs (scheduling blocks) as options. The SBs include SIB scheduling information, more specifically, SIB transmission scheduling information.
When transmitting the MIB, SIB and SB blocks, the base station allocates one block to every other frame in repetition made in units of 128 frames. These blocks are classified under the communication protocol into those fixed in allocation position and in the number of times of allocation in 128 frames, like the MIB, and those that are not fixed but can be arbitrarily set in allocation position and in the number of times of allocation.
It is a matter of course that the transmission of the system information is included in the above-mentioned test scenario. When performing the test, blocks are cyclically transmitted from the testing apparatus to each mobile communication terminal, based on the set transmission schedule.
Certain blocks in the system information have a high degree of freedom in setting, and hence it can be arbitrarily determined in which frames included in the 128 frames, these blocks should be transmitted or should not be transmitted. Further, since setting of the system information significantly influences the operation of the mobile communication terminal, there is a tester's demand for confirming the transmission schedule of the system information when a communication test is performed.
In the prior art, to confirm the system information transmission schedule, a tester reads the test scenario that will be executed by the testing apparatus, and extracts the portion of the scenario corresponding to the system information. Alternatively, the tester sees a displayed log associated with the communication performed in the communication test between the testing apparatus and a mobile communication terminal, and extracts the portion corresponding to system information from the log, as is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2009-147640.
However, in order to confirm the transmission schedule of the system information, it is necessary to perform complex work of searching 64 blocks in the 128 frames cyclically transmitted, for the above-mentioned portion from the test scenario or the displayed log.
For the purpose of imparting an instruction to the testing apparatus, the test scenario is described in the form of, for example, program source code written in Pearl language. Further, since the log is a record of all data exchanged between all layers of the protocol stack used in communication for debugging, the log and the test scenario both contain a great amount of information. Accordingly, when confirming the system information transmission schedule, a lot of time and labor are required for, in particular, the portion of the system information to be visually searched for by the tester. Further, since a large number of system information items exist, it is difficult to grasp the entire system information schedule.